1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multipolar and miniaturized connector structure which has enabled, for example, a connector of an on-vehicle instrument panel side (wire harness side) and a connector of a meter side (gauge board side) to be easily interfitted with each other by the use of a small operating force.
2. Description of the Related Art
As this type of connector, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 6-325822, illustrated in FIGS. 1A to 4. The connector 1 is constituted by a male connector housing 2 having a support shaft 2a protruded from both side surfaces thereof on which a lever 3 is rockably supported, and mounted through a bracket 4 on an inside panel 5a of an instrument panel for use on a vehicle so that the male connector housing 2 may be freely movable in back-and-forth directions toward or away from the inside panel 5a, and a female connector housing 6 having protruded from each side thereof fitting and fit-releasing projections 6a, 6b sliding in such a way as to clamp a corresponding one of a pair of arm portions 3a, 3a of the lever 3 to thereby enable the male connector housing 2 to be engaged with or disengaged from the interior of a hood 6c.
Below the female connector housing 6, there is provided a rail portion 9 which supports a slider 8 pivotally supported on a forward end portion of a screw member 7 so that the slider 8 may be freely movable in back-and-forth directions. Also, it is arranged that a bar-like slider abutment portion 3b of the lever 3 is accommodated in a recessed portion 8a of the slider 8. And, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, when rocking the lever 3 by the rotation of the screw member 7 in the back-and-forth directions of the male and female connector housings 2, 6, the engagement or disengagement between the male and female connector housings 2, 6 is effected through the projections 6a, 6b with a small force due to the lever action (assisting mechanism) of the lever 3.
It is to be noted that, as illustrated in FIG. 4, on a lower side of the inner side panel 5a of the instrument panel 5 there is mounted a meter (gauge board) M through a bolt, nut, etc.
However, in the above-described conventional connector 1, since the lever 3 is operated by rotating the screw member 7 with a machine tool such as a driver, a zone for operating the lever 3 becomes necessary, with the result that the entire connector structure has become large in size. Also, since separate screw members are used, respectively, for the screw member for interfitting the male and female connector housings 2 and 6 with each other and for a screw member for fixing the meter M to a lower side of the inner side panel 5a of the instrument panel 5, the interfitting and fixing operations were complex.